"It is good that war has become so terrible, else we shall grow too fond of it," General Robert E. Lee famously said to his officers as they watched the carnage his cannon made of Union brigades assaulting Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Wastage, a novel by Dean Halliday Smith (aka Ron Smith) is about the mid-winter battle in December, 1862 that almost brought the American government to its knees. Fredericksburg was the "Valley Forge" for the Army of the Potomac and the national government during the civil war. It is a must read for those students of the era.

The movie and book, Gods and Generals, which focused on Confederate General Stonewall Jackson touches on the battle at Fredericksburg but the focus was on Jackson and not the other major personalities. Americans who have stood at the stone wall and ima...